AI
Airbnb Turns AI Into a Faster Product Team. Guests Get the Toggle.
Airbnb says AI is cutting product cycles and support costs while it cautiously tests AI search. The revolution arrives with an opt-out toggle.
Earnings
Palladyne AI Made Drone Swarms a Revenue Line. The Pentagon Is Watching.
Palladyne AI’s drone-swarm software is turning battlefield autonomy into a business. Revenue is rising fast; losses are rising faster.
Startups
HappyRobot Raised $150 Million to Turn Corporate Chaos Into a Very Busy Co-Worker
HappyRobot raised $150 million to automate enterprise workflows with AI agents. The market is real, the pitch is smart, and the procurement paperwork is eternal.
Boston Tech
MacPaw and Liquid AI Want Mac Apps to Think Locally, Because Cloud Bills Have Feelings
MacPaw is partnering with Cambridge’s Liquid AI to bring on-device inference to developers building AI-powered Mac apps for Setapp.
Funding
Decade Raised $85 Million to Let AI Manage Your Money. Adorable.
Decade raised $85 million to build an AI wealth adviser in Brazil. The product is smart, the stakes are high, and human judgment still matters.
Fintech
Circle Turned $73 Billion in USDC Into a Bank Charter. The Bots Get Paid Next.
Circle’s Q2 results show USDC growing to $73.3 billion as the company adds a federal trust bank, Arc, and payments for AI agents.
AI
AMD’s AI Boom Just Became an $11.5 Billion Margin Problem
AMD’s AI business is exploding, with $6.7B in data-center revenue. The catch is that infrastructure ambition comes with a very large bill.
Startups
Horizon3 Raised $250 Million to Let AI Hackers Fight AI Hackers
Horizon3 raised $250M at a $2B+ valuation to make AI hackers fight AI hackers. The market is real; the capital furnace is also.
AI
June Raised $20 Million to Make Enterprise AI Read the Database Graveyard
June raised $20M to automate enterprise AI deployment by untangling legacy systems. Useful plumbing, expensive optimism, and no magic button.
AI
Smallest.ai Raised $13 Million to Make Customer-Service Bots Sound Less Like Hold Music
Smallest.ai raised $13M for low-latency voice agents. The specialized-model bet is smart, useful, and still one awkward pause from sounding like a robot.
Consumer Tech
Friend 2.0 Added a Voice to Your AI Necklace. Loneliness Now Has a Retail Price.
Friend 2.0 adds a speaker and personality to the AI necklace. It’s a clever companion, a $249 emotional gamble, and a little too close to a deity.
Funding
Antares Raised $470 Million to Put a Nuclear Reactor on a Military Base. Relax.
Antares raised $470M in Series C funding for military microreactors. Serious nuclear progress, serious capital, and absolutely no chill.